Good news: husband really enjoyed spaghetti sauce made with two jalapeno chicken sausages and chard!

MRSAND
Posts:
1,258
6/17/13 5:50 P

Baby bella mushrooms...60 calories (8 oz.) have 7 grams protein...I microwave for a few minutes in the microwave to sweat them down a bit then top with pasta sauce or beans & greens (usually canellini beans with either kale, collards or broccoli raab)...a little chicken sausage makes a nice addition too...

As long as the chicken sausages aren't an odd flavor (like chicken apple), they would be good w/ the pasta too. You could actually roast your turkey breast and make sandwiches that would pack more protein than buying lunchmeat.

For a half cup of either of the beans, they look to be around the same, 7 grams and 140 calories for the garbanzos, and around 7 grams and around 110 calories for the cannelini. 1oz of cheddar cheese is around 7 grams and 115 calories. I like to shred cheese because it feels like you get to eat more than if you just ate the 1oz whole. The chard is by far the best bang for your nutritional buck. It has 3 grams of protein for 1 cup of shredded (not cooked), but only 35 calories. Not to mention all the other good vitamins it has.

Darn it - DON'T have pork after all. Just chicken sausages and some fresh-frozen pasta. And a turkey breast.

will go with the milk and the value-added salad tonight, I think... but need to rethink some of my recipes and full-day menus, since I've been focusing for so long on fruit/veg/fiber and NOT on protein...

which has more protein: garbanzos, cannellini beans, or cheese, or chard?

This may not help you today, but Barilla makes a "Plus" pasta that has extra protein in it. The penne has 10 grams of protein for 2 oz. Not a lot, but a bit better than the regular stuff. Also, what about trying out a granola bar with protein added? Nature's Valley and Kellogg's Fiber Plus both have bars that have extra protein.

And, you could add the pork chops... Just dice them up before cooking and do it sorta stir fry style :) I do that all the time for asian stir fries so I don't see why it wouldn't work in a puttanesca.

Eggs, beans, and dairy all add a good amount of protein, as do very green vegetables. Today I am only having 1 serving of meat, but I'm still at 91 grams for the day with all the stuff I just mentioned.

Can you add cheese and kidney beans to the salad? Add some spinach/chard to your sauce? Have a cup of milk as a snack?

you should get about 3-7 g protein from the pasta. i would add lentils [70 cals for 1/4 cup with 9 g fiber and 9 g protein] to the puttanesca to boost the protein. when you make veg curry, i'd also add lentils there. and broccoli [1 cup of florets is 30 cals and 2 g protein]. and i like serving my veg curries over baked potato cubes [100 g raw potato will add 77 cals, 2 g fiber and 2 g protein]. the thing to remember with nuts and granola is that while they do have protein, they have a lot more fat than protein. so if you're struggling to get your protein in, they aren't a good first choice. my little trick is to take the total number of calories in the meal/item and divide by the number of grams of protein in it. this is how many calories it takes for you to get 1 gram of protein in. you generally want this number to be below 30. not everything has to be under 30 by itself, but you do need some of the lower numbers in order to get your protein in. most chips run 160 cals for 2 g protein, so it takes you 80 cals to get a gram of protein in. lentils have 70 cals with 9 g protein, or 7.77 cals per gram of protein. if you want to eat something with a higher number [like the chips] you need to eat it with something with a lower number [like the lentils] so that they balance out.

So... today I had a greek yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast, a veg curry with garbanzo beans for lunch, and an almond granola bar for snack. With all that, I'm up to only 38 grams of protein!

I had planned to fix a low-calorie, high fiber "putanesca" sauce for spaghetti for dinner (olives, artichoke hearts, etc.) along with a salad... but that will add almost NO protein.

Do I have to eat meat or chicken to make up the difference? I have just 720 calories left in my 1630 diet limit, so am not quite sure how to handle it, especially since the only meat that's in my freezer at the moment (I think) is pork chops!

I just got back from a weight loss conference and more and more research is showing the benefit of protein for weight loss. 60 grams is not considered an excessively high amount. But that 60 gram minimum can help maintain muscle mass during weight loss, and keep you feeling full for a longer time (satiety). Plus protein does all those other jobs in the body regarding amino acids for building, repairing body tissues; making hemoglobin which carries oxygen, forming antibodies to fight infection, producing enzymes, etc.

Obviously, it's important to have balance; too much of this or that (even fruits and veggies) isn't going to provide you with the balanced nutrition your body needs to function. But protein is key for so much. It helps food "stick to your ribs", as we say down here in the south. It gets you full, KEEPS you full. Protein takes longer to digest, and keeps you satiated longer. It provide critical fuel for building and repairing muscle when you exercise. Protein can be burned as fuel in your body, but it takes longer and is harder for your body to break it down.

Most of the high-profile diets rely on protein to function. Atkins, low-carb diets in general, most of the shake-based diets, all have protein as the key ingredient.

Now, I'm NOT a proponent of abandoning any macronutrient over another. It's important to have a balanced diet, which is why when trenditarians "go green" and switch to plant-based diets, it's often at the expense of protein. That doesn't mean you can't get protein in non-meat-based diets, but it takes a bit more effort to get enough of it.

I wasn't starving all the time on WW, but couldn't quite figure out where to draw the line with "free" foods. I also had a tough time with all that fiber: it was just too much for my digestive system some days! Add to that the fact that I wasn't losing weight, and there ya go.

But meanwhile, as I asked, do you know of any particular health/weight loss benefits to large quantities of protein?

As a relatively light meat-eater, I find it hard to make up that many grams of protein with things like yogurt, cheese, eggs and nuts -- while remaining within my calorie count. So I find I almost HAVE to either eat meat/poultry.. though am considering a protein powder.

I have a friend at work doing WW that was SHOCKED when I told her that she was eating 800-1000 calories worth of "free" fruit a day (she was venting about not losing any weight, and I started doing the calculations). I think for some people it works because like YOJULEZ said - if you're filling up on veggies you're less likely to go to town with something "junky". But if you're hungry all the time anyway (and fruit alone would leave me hungry, unless paired with some fat or protein), you're going to eat your 1200 calories a day anyway on top of 1000 more in fruit, and not see much success.

300 calories of fruit will be better nutritionally than 300 calories of ice cream, but too many calories no matter WHERE they come from can lead to gain, or at the very least not losing.

Yup, that's why I don't get why they made fruits zero points... I mean, 150 calories of banana is better for you than say, 150 calories of cake, but it's still 150 calories.

The point values for other foods do sort of convert to calories in a way, and I think someone mentioned that the point allotments end up being around 1000-1100 calories, which leaves room for the "zero point" foods like fruits and veggies.

YoJulez -- I was "tricked" into thinking fruits really were low calorie, but now on Spark I see that a single banana ("free" on WW) is over 150 calories... and some of the fruits I was eating (strawberries, cantaloupe, etc.) added up to a couple hundred calories as well. I didn't add up all the calories in a day, but would be surprised if they were as low as they should be based on the Spark recommendations.

WW pushes lots of fruits and veggies because you can eat a lot of them for little calories. By having them be zero points, it's basically their way of "tricking" people to eat more of them. If you fill up on broccoli, you're not going to eat 5 cookies for dessert....that's why it helps people lose weight.

For me, protein (and fiber too) is essential to feeling full and satisfied. I try to get at least 30 with both lunch and dinner, and often get up to 100+ in a day. If I eat a sandwich with deli lunch meat (ie not that much protein), I'm hungry again a couple hours later, even though I just ate around 350-400 calories. If I eat a chicken breast with some veggies, it's way more filling, and I'm not hungry again for maybe 5 hours, for the same amount of calories. Also, if you're working out, protein is essential for building muscle.

For a while I was on the "new" weightwatchers, which strongly stresses eating lots of fruit and veggies; it didn't work well for me, but I keep hearing about eating lots of fruit and veg as a great way to lose weight.

Now, on Spark, I find it hard to reach the 60 gram of protein/day minimum, and am trying to cram more protein into snacks. Instead of carrots and hummus, choosing a cheese stick and so forth.

What exactly is the benefit of so much protein? Is it mostly about feeling fuller for longer, or is there more to it?

SparkPeople, SparkCoach, SparkPages, SparkPoints, SparkDiet, SparkAmerica, SparkRecipes, DailySpark, and other marks are trademarks of SparkPeople, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SPARKPEOPLE is a registered trademark of SparkPeople, Inc. in the United States, European Union, Canada, and Australia. All rights reserved.

NOTE: Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy last updated on October 25, 2013